The quarterfinals at the football festival in North America gets underway tomorrow, with the highly-anticipated clash between France and Morocco.

The French will once again be relying on Golden Boot hopeful Kylian Mbappe, while Morocco could be without the services of their own star striker Ismael Saibari, who injured his hamstring in the last-16 win over Canada.

Tomorrow’s match will be a repeat of the 2022 semifinal, which the French won 2-0.

However, football observer and podcaster Karami Kamel feels that this Morocco team is much better prepared.

 “I think Morocco is a better team compared to 2022. And they do have the quality to cause an upset.” 

“We’ve seen them draw against Brazil and beat Netherlands and Canada. I do think Morocco can cause a surprise. But France is definitely going to be at their best. They have to be, if they want to beat Morocco this time round”, he adds.

The winner of tomorrow’s tie will go on to face either Spain or Belgium in the semis.

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Mexico have appointed former captain Rafael Marquez as their new coach, taking over from Javier Aguerre.

Marquez had served as Aguirre’s assistant throughout their recent campaign at the football festival, where the co-hosts were knocked out in the last-16.

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In other developments…

Egypt has approved a contract extension for national team head coach Hossam Hassan following their successful run to the last-16.

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And, Chelsea have completed the signing of Sporting Lisbon winger Geovany Quenda in a deal worth around 40 million pounds.